gnuPG : Java Glossary

The GNU (Gnu’ Not Unix!) privacy guard. It is an open source clone of
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). It does not use PGP
’s patented IDEA algorithm. It is free. What is unclear is how interoperable it
is with PGP. It seemed happy to import my old
PGP
public keys. Enigmail is an add-on GUI (Graphic User Interface)
to Thunderbird email that makes GnuPG much simpler to use. GnuPG comes with a
*.man files for the documentation. These are just text files
you can view with any text editor.

Disseminating Your Public Keys

For people to send you
encrypted mail, they first need your public key. They can get it several ways:

Attached to an email you send them.

Posted on your website.

From a public keyserver.

Normally you post your key on your website and tell people where they can download
it. For example, you can download/see my PGP
public key at http://mindprod.com/contact/Roedy
Green pgp (0x6A4D31AA) pub.asc. You can sent me PGP-encrypted email with it
via . Please don’t attempt
PGP email with any
other of my email addresses or with any of my old public PGP
keys. The key looks like gibberish, but when you import it into your
PGP
keyring it contains my public key, name and email address hidden in there.

You would use Enigmail or gpg.exe to upload it to several
public key severs. If goes well they will propagate it to all the other servers. You
don’t have to upload it to all the public key servers.
Enigmail/GnuPg in Thunderbird lets you upload your public keys to pgp.mit.edu, pool.sks-keyservers.net and
ldap://certserver.pgp.comsubkeys.pgp.net.

Make sure you post only your exported public key on website, not your
private/secret key.

The key’s presence on one of these websites nothing about its validity.
Anybody can register any name with any key. The first to register an email address
stakes the claim. So, even if you don’t want to use PGP,
register keys for all your email addresses just to stop someone else from
committing an identity theft. Keyservers share uploaded keys, so you don’t have
to upload to every single one.